Aedan's Story - 1. Chapter 1: Introduction

June 28 2017, Whalebone, Massachusetts

"Dude, this is gonna be great," Jake said to me. Jake sat down on his bed in our room in his family's beach house. The room had 2 twin size beds with a nightstand in between. The room had a beachy yellow color on the walls and sailboat pictures hanging.

"Yeah," I grinned, hanging up a few shirts. "Thanks for inviting me, bro. It means a lot"

"No problem. This week was gonna be boring without a friend," Jake laid down. "Ugh I'm tired after being in a car all afternoon."

"I slept in the car, so I'm fine," I giggled.

"Aedan, you can fall asleep almost anywhere," Jake laughed, pulling his t-shirt off. Jake tucked himself under the covers and soon was lightly snoring. A few minutes later, I was done unpacking and I left the room to give Jake his quiet.

I went out to the kitchen and sat at the bar. "Hey, Aedan," Jake's mom said. "Did you get settled in?"

"Yes, ma'am," I nodded. I had a slight country accent, originally being from Tennessee.

"That's good. Help yourself to a snack in the fridge. Dinner won't be for a few hours."

"Okay. Thanks," I responded, standing up. Mrs. Grant went to unpack her stuff. I opened the fridge and poured myself some orange juice in a glass and went out to the back porch. It was a warm breezy afternoon in Whalebone, a small town on the coast of Cape Cod. Waves lapped the sandy shore, which was dotted with rocks and boulders. My best friend, Jake, was so nice to invite me for this weekend trip on the cape instead of being back in Avalon. We had finished school a few weeks ago. I was glad to be done with the nightmare that was 7th grade. I was also glad to get away from my house. My dad can get abusive at times, and I don't enjoy being at home because of it.

Jake and I didn't have a lot in common. We lived on opposite sides of town, I was more of an artistic guy, and Jake was more academic. His family was wealthy and mine was lower-middle class. We had only met through the ultimate frisbee team at our middle school, as we were both athletic.

I put my earbuds in and played some music while I relaxed. It was a perfect day. I was wearing a pink tank top, khaki cargo shorts, and grey and green flip flops, and a warm breeze was blowing. I took some time to bring my sketchbook out of my backpack to draw. Art helped me clear my mind. Almost as relaxing as sleeping. I drew a rough outline and added some shading for the grass textures, the dark blue water, and dark patches of the white puffy clouds. I rarely color in my drawings, so I left this one as just a pencil sketch. I grabbed my sketchbook and went inside when I was satisfied with my work.

Later that evening, after dinner, the sun went down on the western horizon, Jake and I were sitting on the back porch after we ate some pulled pork and baked potatoes for dinner. "So, why is this town called Whalebone?" I asked my friend. I was sitting on a deck chair with my knees up to my chest. I was working on another sketch.

"Let me show you," Jake said, standing up. My friend wore a yellow t-shirt and grey athletic shorts. We left our flip flops on the porch and walked barefoot through the sand. It was a calm, quiet night. The moon above was the only source of light. A cool breeze rustled the dune grass and small waves lapped the empty, sandy shore.

"Where are we going?" I asked, walking a few feet behind my friend. The sandy section of the beach began to narrow as we walked south. Cliffs and rocks began to rise to the right, about twelve feet high.

"It's not much farther. Only a hundred yards from the house," Jake reassured me.

A couple minutes later, we reached a small sheltered cove. The area was surrounded by cliffs. The sandy beach was littered with large rocks that the waves splashed against. Partly submerged in the water were 3 skeletal carcasses of whales that had washed ashore long ago. Nothing remained of them except their bones, which had become weathered over the years.

"Woah," I said, my jaw dropped.

"Welcome to Scrimshaw Cove," Jake brushed his dirty blond bangs out of his face. "This place is how the town back there got its name."

We walked towards one of the carcasses. The sand there was under a couple inches of seawater. All that remained of these poor whales was their skeletons. The skeletons had carvings in them through the last 200 years. "These carvings, scrimshaw, give the cove its name. Pretty cool, huh?" Jake asked.

"Yeah," I laughed. "I'll have to come down here more and get some drawings done."

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. The place is way spookier at night!" Jake teased, trying to scare me.

"Stop it, dude," I giggled, kicking some of the wet sand at my feet at him. We ran back to the beach, with me chasing him. We both sat down, panting and laughing.

"I love coming down here," Jake sighed, leaning back against a rock.

"We should prolly get back to the house," I said. "Your folks are gonna get worried."

"Country bumpkin," Jake joked, elbowing me.

"Haha, very funny," I teased.

We got back to the back porch of the house around 10 PM. Jake's parents were inside, watching a Red Sox baseball game on TV. We used the hose on the driveway to wash off the sand and left our shirts to dry on the railing of the porch. Jake eyed the bruises on my ribs. "What happened, Aedan? You're hurt."

"Oh," I blushed, trying to think of a lie. "Um, my brother and I were wrestling yesterday, and I guess I got a little bruised." What really happened is that I was 30 minutes late for curfew last night, and dad beat me for it. I could never tell my best friend about it though.

"Um, ok," Jake said, believing me, maybe. I grabbed a towel to drape over my shoulders and hide my torso from Jake's parents, who would probably also be concerned.

"Boys! There you are. We were wondering where you went," Jake's dad greeted us. "And why are you soaking wet?"

"I took Aedan to see the whale bones," Jake explained. "We got a little sandy so we washed off with the hose outside before coming in. Our shirts are drying outside."

After the explanation, we grabbed cookies from the kitchen and went to our room to play video games. We played on Jake's Nintendo Switch for a bit until we decided to sleep. Jake let me shower first. I then changed into a baggy pair of boxer shorts. I laid down in bed and read a book for a little bit while Jake showered. After a bit, Jake came out in his pajamas and a retainer in his mouth. He turned out the light. "Nice Superman PJ's," I laughed. They looked pretty dorky on him, but I definitely wasn't trying to insult him.

"Haha very funny," Jake climbed into his bed and turned on the lamp so he can read. "You sure everything is okay?" He asked, eyeing my bruised torso.

"Yes… i'm fine," I sighed. "I'm not cold."

"No, dork," Jake giggled. "I wasn't talking about you being exposed or whatever. I mean your bruised ribs."

"Dude, I already explained it. Stop asking me." I pulled up the covers to hide my chest. "Goodnight, bro." I rolled onto my stomach and tried to get to sleep.